The hottest moment at the mayoral candidate town hall last night at Fourth Baptist may have been the back and forth between Joe Morrissey and Levar Stoney on the latter’s support for the Stone Brewery project. From Ned Oliver at Richmond.com:

“Levar, I really love you, my friend, but you supported along with the governor putting $33 million into a brewery and not schools,” Morrissey said, drawing a rowdy and supportive response from the crowd.

Stoney responded by defending the deal, saying it brought jobs and economic revitalization to a long-struggling neighborhood.

“You ask the folks in Fulton what that has done for their community,” he said, adding that the funding incentivizes big businesses to come to the state and “give people jobs that raise them out of poverty.”

I don’t believe Stone Brewing was a good deal. The structure of the deal was poor. And the local brewery industry has been growing swiftly and organically. Why provide a massive subsidize to an out of town company to compete head to head with our local breweries like Hardywood?

That said, it is nonsense and manipulative for politicians to single out projects like this and say “that $33 million could have went to schools”. It doesn’t work that way. Not in the least and they know it… Not even the same budget…

“That said, it is nonsense and manipulative for politicians to single out projects like this and say “that $33 million could have went to schools”. It doesn’t work that way. Not in the least and they know it… Not even the same budget…”

Sorry Joe, if you really knew the facts you might understand that Richmond did not GIVE Stone $33M. Not a Stoney fan necessarily, but he certainly doesn’t need to defend himself when the accuser has no clue on the real facts.

It is easy to interpret this 33 million in different ways, but the reality of the matter is that the city saved the Brewery, in one way other, what is equivocal to 33 million.

Here is a blip from the article from the RTD:

“Richmond agreed to finance and oversee the construction of Stone’s brewery and a companion destination restaurant. It’s a commitment worth $31 million, financed through general obligation bonds issued by the city last year”.

And

“On top of that, the city agreed to provide Stone with about $2 million in grants and performance incentives”.

So $31 plus $2 = $33 million.

Even though they did “give” stone $31 million cash they did finance and oversea the construction of the Brewery and restaurant.
So does anyone have the particulars to what “finance” means? Is this a loan or did they just pay for it outright? To finance is to provide funding, but it does necessarily mean a loan.

Either way, it appears the city did put up 33 million for Stone in one way or another.

Lastly, I work daily with many who have been in this community for decades and live away from the Broad street part of the Hill. Morrissey is the topic of discussion frequently. I have YET to find one or even hear about one person who does not love Joe…

I’m not saying I love the dude at all, but, people from this community love him. And I bet he will win.